Chardham Yatra - Part 13 (Rudraprayag to Haridwar)

Day 12 (30^th May 2019) was the penultimate day of our yatra. We were woken up by Ranveer as always by 5.30 a.m. with coffee and by 6.30 a.m. we had bathed, finished our rituals and were ready. Our bags were taken to the TT and were loaded along with our mobile kitchen and the breakfast & lunch of the day. As it was Ekadashi, 5 out of 10 of us were fasting. Hence, Ranveer prepared much less quantity of breakfast and dinner as compared to other days. Before leaving the hotel, we captured some pictures for remembering our stay here. The morning hour was blissful and we could see the Sun slowly emerge from behind some mountains and reveal Himself in full glory.

Our first halt was at Rudraprayag (the confluence of Alaknanda & Mandakini) which was a short drive away from our hotel. As we were early, there was virtually no one at the bathing spot at the Prayag. We had to climb down about a hundred steps to reach the Prayag. As the water flow was very high and there were no secured bathing ghat here, we could not take a dip. Instead we used a steel bucket from the mobile kitchen to bathe here. Three of us had a bath here while the rest were contended to just sprinkle some water on themselves. The water was very cold here. On the way back up, we visited a small Chamunda Devi temple which was managed by an old woman who stays there. Further up, we visited the Shiva temple where Sage Narada is believed to have meditated on Lord Shiva to learn music and got darshan of the Lord who also taught him music. Sage Narada then installed another Shiva Lingam here to commemorate the event. We had carried water from the Prayag which we used to pour on the Lingam.

We then proceeded from here. On the way, we stopped at a small eatery for breakfast. Pongal along with a side dish was the breakfast for those who ate. In addition, Kanji was made for everyone. Apart from two people who were fasting, all others had the Kanji and were unanimous in their opinion that it was very well made. In fact, the Pongal too got very good reviews and the contents in the container got completely consumed in no time. After this we proceeded further and stopped at the Dhari Devi temple which is in the middle of a river.

Dhari Devi is considered as the guardian deity of Uttrakhand and is revered as the protector of the Chardhams is a Shakti Peeth temple which has a unique story. A few years ago, a dam was proposed to be built which was going to submerge the temple. The construction company proposed to move the temple to a different location much against the wishes of the local people. The company then decided to raise the level of the temple by 611 meters in the same spot and build a bridge to access the temple. Within a few hours of the dismantling the temple on 16^th June 2013, there was a massive natural disaster in the region. There was a massive cloudburst, thousands of lives were lost, and the roads got blocked by the landslide that followed. All traffic & life came to a standstill and it severely disrupted the yatra for the next few years thereafter.

We had two options to go to the temple – one was by jeep through a rough temporary road and other was by walking down the steps to the temple. Few of us went by Jeep costing Rs. 40 for the up & down journey. Few others walked down the few hundred steps to reach the temple. One unique feature of the temple is that people ask for favours and when that gets fulfilled, they tie bells in & around the temple. So, there are literally hundreds of bells on the bridge leading to the temple as well as the temple itself. We had a lovely darshan here as there were very few people here and returned to our vehicle to proceed further.

We then moved further and by noon reached Dev Prayag. This is the place where Alaknanda and Bhagirati river join to form the holy Ganga. To reach the bathing area, one must climb down a lot of steps and pass by another important Divya Desam temple dedicated to Lord Ram. This is the Raghunath temple where Lord Ram is believed to have done penance to rid Himself of the sin of killing Ravana who was a Brahmin by birth. When we reached here, the temple was already closed for the afternoon, but the priest kindly agreed to open the door for us to have darshan. We saw Lord Ram alone here without the company of His eternal spouse Sita Devi. Outside the temple, we also saw the rocky seat where He is believed to have sat during His penance.

After this, we went further down to the Prayag. Srinivasan had made arrangement with a local priest to come and help us do sankalpam before having bath here. While we all did the sankalpam, only two of us went ahead for the bath here. Here, the bathing ghat was nice and comfortable. The water flow was not too high and there were strong iron ropes to take support of while having bath. The water was not too cold, and, in my opinion, this is the best place to have a dip. After our bath, we all had lemon juice made with water from Ganga. We then went back to our vehicle through a shorter route. Our driver had come there by driving some distance and we got into the vehicle for our ride back to Haridwar.

On the way, we stopped at a small eatery for our lunch break. Lunch comprised of Rice sambhar, cabbage bhaji and curds. There was enough food left over to feed four other people from a different group who were on their way towards Chardham and had also halted at the same eatery. Post lunch we moved further. The weather became warmer and warmer as we descended. There were traffic jams in a couple of places along the way. We saw the lovely route of the famous river rafting which started much before Rishikesh. Movement was slow as we came down and hence, we skipped the planned halt at Rishikesh by passing the town. We could see that Rishikesh has exploded by having innumerable buildings – from a green jungle once upon a time, it has become a concrete jungle now. Sad.

By the time we reached Haridwar, it was almost 8 p.m. We were taken to a different hotel – this one was very nice. Nice AC. No mosquitoes. Good TV and clean bathroom. It had a small temple of Radha Krishna within the premises. I did not join for the dinner and hence do not know the menu. With his great track record, I am sure Ranveer would have turned out another lovely dinner. As we were to depart the next day back to our hometown, we did not do much unpacking for that night.

Thus, ended Day 12 of our Yatra.